Job 6:9

Again he expresses his desire for death, for which he had prayed before. He could not understand why God did not answer such a prayer, for he was sure death was preferable to the anguish he was suffering (vv.8-9). Yet he did not think of suicide being an option.

Here is the part of his suffering that was probably more intense than the physical side. What gave his grief its sharpness was the sense that God's wrath was on him, that the dreadful poison of His anger was eating into him. We know this was a mistake. The discipline God's poor servant was going through was one more proof of God's love. But he did not know it, and we should not be harsh with a man who felt that the Lord was dealing bitterly with him.

You see, he had not the slightest fear of death. He was well above that. But he did not look at death as gain. He could not; he did not have Christ to make it gain. He looked to death as the end of his trouble, the end of his suffering. And so it would be. That, of course, was only a partial view, and nowhere near what God was going to show him. But I mention it to show that this was not any fear of the world beyond death. It was the trial he could not solve in this tangled life.

It is good, however, that he does not even consider suicide, as many would do today who are in such a condition. God had told Satan to spare Job's life, while allowing him to make Job suffer so terribly, and God knew Job's sufferings were needed to bring about results of great blessing. So that Job's wish for death was not according to the will of God. Job would not die until God ordained it so.

When you wake up to the full sense of your own misery, the first thought, and the most bitter one, is to curse the day you were born. It is a terrible feeling, and when God is not known it leads to suicide. But when God is known, as in Job's case, it is the beginning of healthy action... He does not know that God seeks to make him a witness of dependence on Himself against Satan. But this is God's way. Discipline may have the effect of making us feel that death is better than life, but it is working out God's purpose.

This is still greater despair. And that is what he looks on as comfort; he would even rejoice in pain that does not spare him. It would end his sufferings, and after death he would have nothing to fear. He was sure that he was right with God. "For I have not denied the words of the Holy One." Here is the first note of self-righteousness, of justifying himself, which becomes more marked later in his answers.